La Embajada (The Embassy) began by hosting underground dinners for 10 guests in their home in 2014. Monica, who is the perfect host, using her skills a Spanish teacher and history buff to educate guests on the multi-course meals they were about to enjoy. Her husband, Jorge Fabergat, did most of the cooking from a food truck. They never disclosed their location until you reserved your seat. Menu’s were not published and guests arrived f0r this unique dining experience where they learned about Argentina’s culture as well as got great explanations about each dish served and the wines they were paired with. Guests were “sworn” to secrecy so as to not tell others too much, and take away some of the fun of the experience.
Their success with the underground dinners convinced them they needed to open a restaurant. They signed the contract last October on the property on St. Rt. 741 in Miami Township and have worked to create a building that felt like their living room. They will host a soft opening this Saturday, July 9th from 6-10pm, which just happens to be Argentina’s Independence Day. The soft opening menu will highlight the fast items like empanadas, steak, pasta dishes. They will then be closed Sunday and Monday and officially open on Tuesday, July 12th at 6pm.
Their cuisine is a mix between the heritage of Italy: pasta, pizza’s, osso buco and from the Spanish side they will offer a tapas menu (which in Argentina is called Picada), an array of small dishes to sample and some charcuterie boards. The Argentina dishes focus on beef due to all the cattle they raise and export.. Steaks, sausages, a very traditional bbq dish, which mixes different meats, pork and beef steaks, offal. There will also be lots of steak on the menu, Monica reminds us “We are the Texas of South America, along with Brazil!) Milanesas (fried breaded beef or chicken) pasta, pizzas, grilled sausages and more” will round out the menu.
Not all of these dishes will be available at the soft opening, Chef Jorge will start to introduce more of the menu like the paella and the bbq dishes as the kitchen settles in. A Liquor license application has been applied for, in the meantime they will be serving non-alcoholic beer and wine.
Monica has promised they’ll have 18 varieties of empanadas, which they debuted back in 2014 at the Oakwood Farmers Market. Empanadas are known as fast food in Argentina, can be fried or baked and sweet or savory. She began selling them in 2014 at the Oakwood Farmers market and she has become known as the go-to person to get them. In the restaurant they will also sell them frozen for you to bake, deep fry or air fry (her recommended method) them at home.
Expect to see Spanish seafood paella on the menu in the future, after the soft opening.